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County Fair political troubles....

We have a nice County Fair here every year. It's very Mayberry RFD. 4H exhibits, livestock shows and auctions, pies, silly games, music, good food, lots of booths for local causes/politicians/businesses.

Good times for all. Usually very polite and neighborly, and you get to see a lot of the folks from different islands that you don't normally get to bump into.

The County Republicans had their booth there this year, in the same place I've seen it for the past 19 years. They had a life-size cardboard image of Trump at the booth.

Chaos ensued. I witnessed some of it with my own eyes. I even got yelled at by a couple of people, because I was accidentally standing next to the booth, talking with the Sheriff about a marine search & rescue issue we are working on together, and was misgendered as a Republican by the local Antifa-wannabes.

I'll let the booth operators tell the tale though:

REGARDING HARRASSMENT AT SJC FAIR

We call upon everyone everywhere to practice what our society so often preaches: tolerance and open mindedness. Everyone is tolerant of their friends. It is how you treat people with whom you disagree that defines tolerance and open mindedness.

Over the last week our volunteers at the Republican fair booth were:

• Picketed by about 15 people, mostly polite, but one got in a yelling match with an elderly Republican who happened to be walking by.

• Repeatedly called racists, or bigots, and many other labels -- by people who do not know us.

• We were told multiple times that "there's no way they [“resistors”] are any threat to women,” yet one of the women working in our booth was repeatedly harassed by the same man, to the point where she had to file a police report.

• All our people experienced harassment, and because SJC Republican Party has more female leaders than male, much of that harassment was directed at women in our booth.

• One woman related of a different visitor: “I had to beg a man multiple times to leave the cardboard cutout [of Trump] alone. I finally stood right next to him by the cutout, looked up and started saying loudly, ‘Please leave. Please leave us alone,’ over and over until people started looking. He was much taller than I and certainly stronger... He then walked off laughing....”

• Our cutout of Trump was in fact poked at and attempts at vandalizing it occurred multiple times. Multiple people stated that they hoped he would be assassinated. Just a few months ago Republicans were in fact shot at, and some wounded, so even in jest this was very poor taste.

• Some had their employment threatened, we were spit at, and repeatedly given the finger. Some felt we deserved such harassment, so that now we can "know what it's like to be black."

• We were worried about our neighbors in nearby booths, but several of them came by and apologized to us because they could not believe how we were treated -- including women and minorities.

We are hardly the first to be treated this way, but we condemn all such behavior, whether directed at us or at others. We are disappointed that events in far off places were used to justify aggressive and bullying behavior towards their neighbors. We are grateful to those who were polite, even friendly, and there were many of those too. But the men and women manning our booth handled such hostility.

Thank you to the hundreds of conservatives who came by and expressed their support. They were coming through all day, all week, glad that we were there. There are thousands of underrepresented conservatives in this county, human beings who everyday come into work and keep their heads down because they don't want to lose their jobs, or have their cars vandalized, or otherwise be harassed for practicing democracy.

But frankly, we are tired of attempts to bully us while complaining about bullying. You have every right to say what you believe, just as we do. But just notch down the hysteria please, and remember that we are neighbors.

What a horrible story. Although I can't imagine why so many people think he is doing a good job and are proud of our president, they do and that is their right.

Interesting story. I was in DC the day before the election. We were walking near the mall and I looked up and there was Pence looking out the window. He waved and I gave him a thumbs up. My friends all said "you should have given him a thumbs down or given him the finger." I would never be so disrespectful. Although it went through my head.

The sniping between the the president and the congress and senate, horrible disrespectful things they are all saying to each other. Bullying and name calling are common. People obviously think it gives them license to behave the same.

Funny story, my daughter in law does not believe children should watch TV except as a special treat so they never have the TV on. She happened to be somewhere where a 24 news channel was on and she said "when did the news become people interrupting and trying to shout over one another, then the host interrupting everyone and ending the segment." It is so true on both CNN and FOX. Rude behavior is the rule of the day.

I guess there are obnoxious people on both sides. Oh..........I hope that didn't sound like what Trump said about both sides at the Charlottesville protest.....

I guess we can't expect everyone to be civil......that would be too perfect a world, right? I wonder if any anti-Trump people just stopped and had a reasonable discussion with people at the Trump booth?

Bae.......I got confused when I read the title of your post. I had just posted a question on a Vegetable Forum about my cucumbers.....that are "County Fair" cucumbers. For a moment, I had to try understand my cucumbers and their political problems. lol!

Did you remember to have your phone recording and your lawyer present?

I did indeed have a cell phone on me, and since I switched to T Mobile it even works in the county now. I also had a firearm on my person, and my lawyer was indeed standing right next to me, since I'm married to her it's tricky to avoid.